"In order to provide optimal support for all patients we need to know how different ethnic groups cope with a diagnosis of cancer.

"Asian patients seem to suffer greater psychological distress following a diagnosis of cancer.

"We intend to conduct further studies in a larger group of patients to study whether Asians and white patients understand cancer in different ways."

Dr Symonds told the BBC News website he feared that Asian patients were more likely to view cancer as an automatic death sentence when in fact up to 50% of patients made a full recovery.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, a GP in Stanmore, Middlesex, and a senior member of the British Medical Association, said some people from ethnic minorities had an outdated impression of how effectively modern medicine could treat cancer.

"I am not surprised by these findings. Some patients from ethnic minorities come from nations where the health care system is not well developed, and where a diagnosis of cancer is often associated with a very poor prognosis."

Dr Nagpaul said it was important that counselling services were available to support people who were diagnosed with cancer.

He said it was not satisfactory for a hard-pressed GP to have to give such news in a 10-minute consultation.

Kate Law, head of clinical trials at Cancer Research UK, said: "In this study, the British Asian patients appear to have an unhealthy attitude to a cancer diagnosis, often leading to depression, whereas white patients seem to deal with it better and have a better outlook.

"This could be down to many factors, but if misunderstanding of cancer is one, then the NHS may need to focus on a targeted education campaign once this work has been further substantiated."

Dr Kiran Patel, of the South Asian Health Foundation, said the differences could be due to many factors.

"Notwithstanding that depression is more prevalent in Asians, when cancer is diagnosed, factors such as the social stigma associated with a diagnosis, the religious and cultural beliefs of this group such as accepting one┐s fate or destiny (┐kismet┐) may play a role."

Dr Patel also said that doctors may not be attuned to dealing with depression in Asian people.